'Doe license allocation to be set

'Doe' license sales to be set

All eyes are on the Pa. Game Commission as the agency prepares to decide how many antlerless deer licenses to sell for the 2008-09 hunting seasons.

Commissioners will meet Monday and Tuesday, April 21-22, in Harrisburg. Doe license allotments will be based on harvest data, population trends, deer reproduction data, forest regeneration information, input from five new Citizen Advisory Committees, and hunter survey results.

Last week's release of deer kill figures for the 2007-08 hunting seasons has reignited debates about the diminishing deer herd in the northcentral counties.

Hunters in Management Area 2G, which includes all of Cameron County and those parts of Potter and McKean counties south of Rt. 6, took 6,600 antlerless whitetails, up from the 4,600 harvest of 2006-07.

That was due to an increase of nearly 40 percent in antlerless deer license sales for Area 2G, from 19,000 to 26,000 for 2007.

At the same time, buck kill in that region plunged from 7,200 the previous year to 5,100 in 2007-08.

Meanwhile, in Area 3A, which includes sections of Potter, McKean and Tioga counties north of Rt. 6, the doe kill dropped from 8,800 to 7,800, even though license sales held steady at 29,000 for both years. Antlered deer harvest fell from 4,500 to 3,400.

Statewide, hunters harvested an estimated 323,070 in the 2007-08 seasons, down 11 percent from the previous season. Buck kill dropped 19, while the doe harvest was down by 5 percent.

Yearling bucks comprised 56 percent of the deer kill, the same percentage posted in 2006-07. Button bucks and doe fawns were 24 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of the antlerless harvest, and almost identical to 2006-07 season rates.

Season-specific deer harvest estimates are as follows:

--Area 2G: firearms, 4,500 antlered, 5,200 antlerless; archery, 560 antlered, 420 antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 antlered, 980 antlerless.

--Area 3A: firearms, 2,900 antlered, 6,300 antlerless; archery, 480 antlered, 600 antlerless; muzzleloader, 20 antlered, 900 antlerless.